As
many of us observe the great Arab and Islamic awakening of 2011 in stunned
amazement, as it rapidly spreads across the region, this observer agrees
with those who declare, " well it's about time--Godspeed to the
rebels and goodbye to the despots."

Indeed,
most of the despots had been installed and propped-up by the US government and
its allies without many American citizens' awareness or liking.

What
I continue to find in Syria and what I saw during my first 24 hours in Damascus
shocked me. It was not at all what one expected to find having read a
fair bit of the Western and some of the Arab media reports, and arriving from
the Syria-Lebanon border at Maznaa.

One
expected to see fear, tension, and people hiding in homes, ubiquitous police
and partially hidden and disguised security personnel in the shadows, watching
from behind tinted glassed cars, curtained windows and from roof tops. I
expected to see military vehicles, empty streets after dusk, reticence to
discuss politics, tense faces on the streets.

None
of this was to seen in Syria's capital and villages to the west.

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Today,
Damascus is as it always has been during my visits, bustling, clean, parks
filled with families and couples, ubiquitous green spaces with beautifully
planted and manicured gardens, packed outdoor cafes and coffee houses with
young and old seemingly discussing any subject including current events and
appearing very much at ease.

The
streets of parts of Damascus as late as two in the morning appear like
Georgetown on a Friday night. Of course, it did not take long for an American
acquaintance to say precisely what I was thinking: "which American city would anyone feel as
carefree and comfortable meandering around at any hour of the day or night with
no policeman in site, as in Damascus. Not my city for sure!"

Life
in Damascus, even during this period, is a far cry from Beirut in many aspects
including the welcomed fact that Damacene drivers do not insanely honk their
horns constantly and insult one another, people actually wear seat belts,
drivers stop for red lights and don't always race their cars if they see 20
feet of unoccupied road space ahead of them and drivers here seem to respect
pedestrians and don't appear to frantically search for every chance to gain an
inch on the vehicles next to them by quickly cutting in front and
pretending not see the other driver.

In
short, Damascus appears energetic but relaxed and tension free.

Exactly
what is going in some parts of Syria cannot easily be reliably known to foreigners
given the sporadic and unverified, often politically skewed reports, but it is
clear that the areas visited are normal, at least on the surface.

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While lunching this week with old and
new friends in a house that was built in 1840 in the heart of Old
Damascus and its Souks, near Hamman Al Bakra, and restored in the mid-
1990's to its original authenticity, one could not help recalling what history
teaches about this special ancient place known for tolerance.

Located near
the Jewish quarter of Damascus, we enjoyed a truly divine meal of Mukabbelat
(seemingly endless plates of delicious Syrian oeuvres) near an old Synagogue,
next to a 12th century Mosque and around the corner from a Byzantium Church.
An old Jewish man taught us with his stories about the brotherliness that
existed in this region before the 19th century Zionist colonial
enterprise glopped itself onto Palestine and commenced modern history's most
sustained criminal campaign of ethnic cleansing, now in its 7th
decade.

Americans
in Syria I spoke with, some tourists and a number of students studying Arabic
are not alarmed by the "travel warnings' issued from the US Embassy advising
them to leave. As in Lebanon Americans here learned long ago that Embassy
warnings for them to leave or not visit, appeared more related to periodically
punishing Lebanon and its economy for supporting the Hezbollah led
resistance than concern for the safety of US citizens. More times than the
State Department wants to admit, both Hezbollah and the Syrian government have
not only protected US citizens but also US Embassies as they seek stability in
both countries.

Since 2013, Professor Franklin P. Lamb has traveled extensively throughout Syria. His primary focus has been to document, photograph, research and hopefully help preserve the vast and irreplaceable archaeological sites and artifacts in (more...)